Reject Stolen Sudan Elections
Posted by Michelle Moquin on 24th March 2010
This is what’s happening in Darfur:
Can elections be held in Darfur?
Arranging an election in an area where many people live in refugee camps is far from straightforward, as the BBC’s James Copnall discovered during a trip to Sudan’s Darfur region.
Six years ago, as he fled the fighting in Darfur that killed one of his brothers, Adam Mahmoud felt utterly powerless.
Swept this way and that by a conflict that the UN estimates has killed 300,000, Mr Mahmoud ended up in a vast camp for internally displaced people, Abu Shouk.
Now in the relative safety, but miserable living conditions of the camp, Mr Mahmoud has found a way to make his voice heard.
“I am registered to vote in these elections,” he says.
“I am free to choose, but I haven’t decided yet who I will vote for.”
However, if the election, Sudan’s first real multi-party poll since 1986, offers Darfur’s dispossessed the opportunity to influence their future, not everyone intends to take it.
The Bashir factor
Ahmed Atim, a large man with greying hair, introduces himself as the head of the traditional leaders in Abu Shouk camp.
He says turnout will be low at Abu Shouk and other refugee camps, where many of the 2.7 million displaced people in Darfur live. ”Here in the camp not more than 5,000 or 6,000 have registered, out of 70,000,” he says.
“The people are against the elections. They are coming from different places, the war has been really bad for them, and they do not like this government.”
There is a perception in the camp that President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party is so closely linked to the polls that the elections themselves are not to be trusted.
“The people think the elections are not able to change everything,” says Mohamed Sharif Beshir, who also lives in Abu Shouk.
“The NCP came to attack the people, then it came again to register them. That is why they refused to register.”
Others complain that the registration period in the camp lasted only two days, rather than several weeks.
One teacher, in a basic camp school composed of 11 straw huts around a dusty central square, said he had not even been aware of the registration period.
“We don’t know much about the elections,” he says, asking for his name not to be used.
“I myself do not even have the right to return to my village in safety. How can I think about voting?”
Like many in Darfur, the displaced people in Abu Shouk are opposed to President Bashir and his party.
Some observers feel they have been deliberately marginalised during the registration process – a charge the NCP denies.
Civil war bitterness
But there are other areas where registration did not take place at all.
In South Darfur, for example, 20% of the land is estimated to be in the hands of rebels – principally the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Abdul-Wahid faction.
Another rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), which has recently signed a ceasefire with the government, has called for the election to be postponed.
A senior official from the NCP, Ibrahim Ghandour, insists there will only be three areas where voting is impossible.
He also concedes his candidate will do less well in Darfur than elsewhere.
The region has traditionally supported Sadiq al-Mahdi and his Umma party. And many Darfuris are bitter about the events of the civil war.
However, many Darfuris also support the president. They at least can rejoice in the early lead their man has taken in the numbers of posters in the main towns.
Mr Bashir’s cheery face smiles down on passers-by everywhere, in stark contrast to the dearth of posters bearing the faces of opposition candidates.
“I think the election is important, to let the people choose,” says one man who is desperate to vote.
Another young man, in South Darfur’s largest town Nyala, was less optimistic.
“People are talking about elections, but in Darfur we have many problems,” he says.
“People have not registered, and the rebels are outside the elections. I don’t think the conditions are right for proper elections.”
Another, Ali Asil, says the important issue is not personalities but policies.
“It is not a matter of who should govern Sudan; it is a matter of how Sudan should be governed.”
No protection?
Security will clearly be another issue in Darfur during elections.
The war has dropped in intensity, but quite apart from the rebels, armed groups and criminals make travelling around dangerous.
A hybrid African Union/United Nations peacekeeping mission, Unamid, has nearly 19,000 men in uniform on the ground.
But because of limits to their peacekeeping mandate and insufficient numbers to patrol such a vast area, Darfuris should not count too much on Unamid for protection.
There are areas where the peacekeepers cannot travel, and even these heavily armed military specialists sometimes come off worse in gun battles with criminals intent on car-jackings.
“There is still time to do the right things by all,” says Ibrahim Gambari, the head of Unamid.
He adds that although Unamid will help, as it did in the registration process, it is up to the Sudanese to make sure their elections are safe, free and fair.
All the same, the possibilities for armed men or overzealous officials influencing voters must be huge.
Voices for Darfur: 5 Years of Advocacy:
This is what I received yesterday asking for my help:
Dear Michelle,
There is no doubt that the conditions for free and fair elections in Sudan do not exist, and Bashir’s obsession with winning is leading to more violent repression and human rights violations.
Bashir wants to use these fraudulent elections to legitimize his corrupt, genocidal regime – but we aren’t going to let that happen.
We need your member of Congress to stand up for the people of Sudan by publicly rejecting any fraudulent election results.
Bashir claims the Sudanese people are free to choose their leader, but his actions make it clear he is only interested in maintaining his grip on power.
As the recent government offensive in Jebel Marra demonstrates, a widespread lack of security makes it impossible to hold credible elections in Darfur at all.
And the absence of basic political freedoms and media censorship have created an atmosphere where opposition parties are not able to speak freely to voters or assemble without fear of being beaten, arrested, or worse.
The United States must lead the international community in condemning election violations,human rights abuses, and in ensuring that the election results do not legitimize the rule of indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir.
Tell your member of Congress to speak out now about Sudan’s rigged elections and the Bashir regime’s criminal behavior, before it’s too late for the people of Sudan.
Thank you for lending your voice in support of the Sudanese people at this important time.
Best,
Martha
Martha Bixby
Save Darfur Coalition
Readers: Well, we know Obama can have an influence here, as it was suggested by Anonz, via Onile, that we write letters to Obama and ask him not to recognize fraudulent elections in Sudan as free and fair. I received this yesterday and sent my letters. So there is an urgency to do this TODAY – THIS MORNING. Can you do this for me, for the people of Darfur? Thank you.
Janice: Good questions; great answers. I say, “Smash the status quo.”
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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